In a typical roll storage facility whether for receipt of the manufactured product or for distribution of the roll product at wholesale or retail levels, it is customary to store the rolls in piles on some support means where the axes of the rolls are parallel and transverse to the access aisles providing space for entry and removal of the rolls from the storage means. Where the product is comprised of very wide and bulky rolls of large diameter, such as carpet, or wide rolls of considerable weight such as linoleum or equivalent floor coverings, it is impossible to handle the rolls without the assistance of some mechanical means. Since the axes and hence, the hollow core of the rolls are transverse to the handling space an obvious handling device is the fork lift truck since the prongs of the conventional fork lift can readily be inserted into the cores and the rolls lifted, lowered and transported from place to place with relative ease. Because the fork enters the roll core axially it is apparent that access to the roll storage means must be of such expanse as to provide for maneuvering of the lift truck for axial entry of the fork into the roll cores and also to permit maneuvering of the truck with the axial width of the roll extending parallel to the truck axis. Conventionally, a working space of approximately 16 feet in width, i.e. extending outwardly from the working side of the storage means, is required to enable a fork lift truck to maneuver in the process of handling the roll material.
When it is considered that manufacturing and sale of floor covering and similar roll form material is virtually a continuous operation, it is apparent that immense storage facilities must be provided to handle inventories of manufactured but unsold materials. When the space requirements for storage of the material are increased by the necessity of large areas of handling space such as 16 foot aisles, it can readily be seen that any storage and handling system and means that facilitates reduction in any area, storage or handling, represents a substantial advantage in the art.
The present invention then deals with the very vital problem of reducing costs and size of storage area by as much as 50 percent of the handling area required and in effecting this result without the expenditure of considerable sums of money for highly sophisticated and specialized handling equipment and storage facilities. In addition the invention, to be described in detail, is readily adaptable to existing handling and storage facilities.